Comfortably Numb
by Aonashe
Summary: A constable realizes that Joy may not be all it seems to be. Abandoning the drug, he goes on the difficult journey of recovering his destroyed memory and escaping the hell that is Wellington Wells. Along the way, of course, he encounters brutal reminders and shadows of his past. Who knows if he will leave all in one piece? Events take place one year before We Happy Few.
1. Prologue

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Inhale. Exhale. The sounds of the Constable's breathing magnified inside his gas mask. The fog wasn't particularly nasty this night, but it still warranted wearing a gas mask. The fog always came at night, after all. Although, this didn't stop him from having a joyful grin underneath his gas mask. There was nothing to be sad about in Wellington Wells, so why hold a frown? And besides, his mask, like most others that wore it, shaped his face into a smile. And when you're smiling, you can't help but be happy. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Even though the lenses on his gas mask were murky, he could still see that it was quite a beautiful night out. Especially through the happy aura he obtained through his joy pill, nothing could ruin this night at all. Even if a Downer happened to appear right here, it still wouldn't stop him from being gleeful of this night. He would have no problem with giving a Downer what they deserved either way, as it was their own fault for not taking their joy. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Although, he wasn't just standing around past curfew for no reason, that would be preposterous. As he was a constable, he was allowed to go out past curfew, the police force has to protect Wellington Wells against Downers at night too, after all. Instead of what he normally did, which was patrolling the streets, he decided to guard the joy detector gate. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"There are a few Joy detector gates sprinkled across the city, not just this one. This particular one guarded a place that was mostly restricted to Constables only, however. Even a perfectly normal citizen would look suspicious surpassing through the detector gate. Although, if you were part of maintenance, there would be no issue with you surpassing the gate. Normally, if a Wellie was standing around near this area, they'd just be shooed away. But if they were a Downer...that would be a completely different story. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"The Constable crossed his arms and gripped at the dark blue fabric of his uniform as he shivered at a thought he got. What if some of the Wellies who pass through the Downer Detectors and Joy gates are Downers only taking Joy just to get through the gates to try and get out of the city? No, that's insane. Downers /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"don't/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" take Joy, that's obvious. And even so, they couldn't resist the happiness of the pill when they take it anyways. They'd just end up getting themselves addicted to it! He seriously couldn't understand Downers. Why even resist the happiness/span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" the pills give you? It's better to forget and never feel down than to wallow in bad memories. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"As though it was right on cue, the Constable started to feel his joy start to wear off. He got that horrible headache that always followed a crash and the night around him started to warp and drain of color. Even through the lenses of his gas mask, he could still see the world around him start to distort and fade, taking away all the beauty from the night. He started to get that awful feeling that maybe it actually wasn't a lovely night at all and that life was maybe not as great as it appeared. And it felt cold...so cold. He needed more joy and he needed it fast, before the memories started to roll in. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"With haste, the Constable dug around in his pockets to try and find his prescription bottle. Not even a moment later, he found it and almost ripped off the cap. He took out one of the light pink capsules from the bottle. Just the feel of the pill against his gloves made him feel much better. Since he couldn't really pop in the pill while wearing his gas mask, he took a deep breath and held it as he temporarily took it off. Without even a second thought, he popped in the pill and uncrossed his arms. Almost immediately the pill took effect and the night returned to normal. The night air seemed as warm and joyful as it was before, the aura of happiness immediately surrounding him again. The night sky resumed its beautiful blackish purple hue and he once again felt content that life was just as pleasant and gleeful as before. /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""When life annoys, pop a Joy." /span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He thought to himself with a smile as the glee in his icy blue eyes lit up even more. And with that, he readjusted the gas mask over his face. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Although, it didn't take long for something suspicious and quite frankly annoying to start happening this night. Someone, who he presumed at first was a Wellie past curfew, started strolling up to the gate. The person was a woman who looked in her mid twenties with sandy blonde hair, a yellow dress with white lining, and black boots. Though she looked like a typical Wellie, he still stiffened his posture just in case this person was a Downer. If this was a Wellie past curfew, he would gladly and firmly shoo them away and send them back to where they're supposed to be. Although, the more the person came into view, the more she looked less like a Wellie. She was exhibiting the typical behavior of a Downer. She had that far away glazed stare and a saddened, but oddly determined, posture. Definitely not someone on Joy. But, he couldn't exactly be sure. It might have been a Wellie on a crash from her joy wearing off. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Oi, you there! Move along!" He called out to her in a venomous, firm tone. He was notorious for that tone, as in active situations, he usually turned quite venomous and unforgiving. He didn't have the alias "Venom" for no reason. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"The suspected Downer stopped just a few feet from the joy gate, eyeing up the trap controls box rather suspiciously. That was enough to set it off for the Constable, so he immediately rested a hand on his baton, the venom intensifying in his eyes as he called out to her more briskly. "If you will /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"kindly/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" stop that, I promise I won't smash your face in!" /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"The now confirmed Downer looked from him, the controls box, and to the orange glow of the gate, her long blonde hair draping in front of her eyes. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she brought her fist back as if she was going to try and knock him out, and at that exact same time, he started towards her with his hand gripping his baton. It seemed to have happened so fast, she lunged towards him with intentions to knock him out, but just before she could reach him, he immediately grabbed a hold of her wrist and locked it in an iron grasp before she could even hook him. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"She immediately started thrashing and clawing at him in his grasp, yelling and shrieking at him to let her go. While she was whirling and thrashing around, he drew his baton from his holster and readied to strike her with it. But, just as he did that, he caught a glimpse of her face. He automatically froze. His joints locked together and he couldn't even bring himself to strike her. Her face, her eyes, her /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"voice/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"...it's all so familiar and bringing back forbidden memories. The pain and the simple memories of this familiarity was enough to rip right through the aura of forgetfulness and glee that the joy provided for him. The world seemed to warp and distort again as a cold and anguished aura seemed to envelop him. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Finally, he seemed to realize what was causing this. This woman looked exactly like /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"her. /span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"She looked exactly like /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Charlotte/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;". His memories screamed at him over and over again as it all came flooding back, the sounds of her screams enveloped his every thought and obliterated the traces of joy in his system. He was quite rooted to the spot from this sudden overwhelming surge of memories that his vigorous joy indulgence had stowed away in the back of his mind for what seemed like centuries. He tried and tried again to strike her, but he just couldn't do it. The Downer looked so much like her that he couldn't bare to strike her. His overwhelming memories and anguish had a choke-hold on him. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"But the thing that caught him the most were the Downer's eyes/span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;". They bore into his soul and intensified the memories. They look exactly like /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"hers/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"...so very piercing blue. Just like how she looked when he had to take her away. The Constable started to hyperventilate, the sounds of his rapid breathing magnifying in his gas mask as he tried desperately to avert his eyes from hers. Involuntarily, his grip started to loosen and his hands started to shake, rendering him completely vulnerable. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"The Downer immediately noticed this and ripped her hand from his grasp. She didn't hesitate one bit and she immediately whirled around and dashed off into the fog, possibly to be seen by other Constables and apprehended. Possibly killed. The Constable watched her run with a bewildered look, his eyes filled with fear and sorrow. The memories still enveloped him, as they were too strong to even fight back. It was because of /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"joy/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" that he had to take her away. That he had to send Charlotte away as an official Downer. All at once, he started to question why he was even taking his pills at all and why he was even doing this knowing fully that this took her away. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"All at once, a sound he had repressed for years came to him. A train whistle and a little boy's screams of anguish as he was dragged on board by men in polished uniforms. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Lee!" /span His mind screamed. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He immediately grabbed his pill bottle again and ripped off the cap, the distorted world around and the shrieking whistle him giving him an intense headache. He needed to pop it in before he broke down. The anguished Constable took out one of the light pink pills again, but this time, he hesitated. For the first time in his life, he hesitated on taking his Joy. He turned the pill over in his gloved hand, looking down at it with reluctance. This was the pill that had gotten his sister taken away from him. Was he seriously going to go back to being a coward and take his Joy? Forgetting everything he just remembered? Forgetting his brother and sister?/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"After what seemed like years of looking at the pill with regret, he closed his hand over the pill firmly and chucked it into a nearby alley near the Joy gate, the pill not even making a sound as it disappeared into the alley. He decided that he wasn't going to succumb to Joy anymore and that he was not going to let it control his life anymore. He wasn't going to let Wellington Wells corrupt him into thinking that Downers are the scum of the Earth and that they need to be purged when they haven't even done anything wrong. When they were innocent. He knew this now. He had to do it for his family, no matter if they are alive or not./span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" Of course, this would be a long and painful process, as he was so addicted to the pill anyways. His body at the moment was screaming for him to take the pills, as his body was so accustomed to taking the pill that he couldn't physically go on without it. But he would ingrain it in himself to never take it again. His conscious knew it now even if his body didn't. Although...he didn't know how long he could make it. As he had been taking Joy for years, he knew that it wouldn't be this easy to break himself out of the prison he put himself in. But he would try. He would be the Constable that realized that what he was doing was wrong and that remembering is better than forgetting. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Although, he also knew that he could never let himself get caught. It would be overwhelmingly difficult, as Joy withdraw would probably be an excruciating experience, especially since he'd been taking it for as long as he could remember. He could never let himself be branded as a Downer. As a Constable himself, he knew what happened to Downers. He knew more than the average Wellie. And he knew that he would never survive what they were put through. By doing this, he was putting his life on the line, but he wouldn't slink back to the comforts of Joy anymore. He would bite the bullet./span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"And with that new found determination, he made the biggest decision of his life so far. He grabbed his prescription bottle and chucked it into the darkness, hearing it clatter on the ground with all the pills inside scattering all over. As soon as he did that, he immediately felt the rush to take his joy, to forget. His hands started shaking and an overwhelming wave of anguish crashed over him. But, he clenched his fists and forced himself to stand upright, making his posture look as professional as possible. The Constable crossed his arms and gripped at the fabric of his uniform, an unbearable cold haze striking him from the absence of Joy. But, he forced himself to keep his head up, as he wouldn't want to show any signs of being a Downer. Although in a weird way, it didn't sit quite right with him that he was now a /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Downer/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;". The very thing he had been fighting, he became. All in one night. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"With a melancholy, but determined gaze, he looked up at the sky. It wasn't beautiful. It was grey and lifeless, much like Wellington Wells. While looking at it, he couldn't help but feel scared for the first time in a very long time. Now his life was completely unclear to him for the first time in his life. /span/p 


	2. All the Happy People

It has been about a couple weeks since those events took place. A couple weeks since he stopped taking his Joy and put his life on the line. Was it worth it? He didn't really know.

Joy withdrawal has proved itself to him to be even worse than what he had initially thought. He was constantly shivering and shaking, although he kept telling himself that it was going to be okay. Even though it has been a couple weeks since he made that decision, he still hadn't been able to convince his body that Joy was destroying him. Apparently, he always had an endless supply of vomit stored, as it seemed to him that at least every hour of the day he was vomiting everything he ate into a trashcan. But, the worst part of it to him was the constant feeling of emptiness in him. It seemed to him as though everything has lost its pleasantness and was just grey. He could barely even remember what events happened since he dumped Joy, it all just became a blur of constant misery and loneliness.

Although, he couldn't just walk around like that, especially as a Constable. He couldn't no matter how bad it was. He had to constantly pretend that he was fine and dandy, like nothing was going bad for him at all. If he dropped his smile for even a few seconds, people would instantly suspect him for being a Downer. Now he knew exactly how Downers in hiding felt. For most of his time as a constable, he lived it not even understanding Downers. He thought that they were insane for not taking their Joy and that they'd just make everyone feel bad, just because they were too busy wallowing in their own memories to take it.

But now he was one of them. He had come to realize that maybe the Downers weren't the insane ones. Maybe it was the Wellies that were the irrational ones. For a large chunk of his memories of the present, he went through it proud to be a part of this irrationality. He was proud to wear the Constable's uniform and to protect his city. He was proud to kill and isolate Downers from the world, basically leaving them to die in the toxin-filled Garden District. But now that he had seen reality for what it was, he felt ashamed to wear the uniform that he wears to this day. Knowing that even though he eradicated his life of Joy, he was still participating in the cruelness that society showed to Downers. He wanted so badly to just pack up and leave the city, but he knew that wouldn't be possible. No one leaves the city. And if anyone tried, they would never live to tell the tale. Either way, there was nowhere he could go where he would escape the clutches of the happy pills. Unless he forced himself past the Parade District, but even he knew that would be a far and desperate stretch.

At this time, it was midday. To him, it seemed a dreary and cloudy day, a world filled with imperfections. But to everyone else, it probably seemed just delightful to them. Rainbows lining the streets, a double rainbow in the sky, and just the most beautiful cotton candy sky you could imagine. He would know, since that's how he saw the world of Wellington Wells in the drug-like coma that he was in.

Another thing that happened to him after he stopped taking Joy was that he started to be more cautious of who he talked to, but never to the point where he would isolate himself away from everyone else. Because if he did that, that would be an obvious sign that he was a Downer.

As he thought about his recent change in personality, he couldn't help but look down at himself. He wore the uniform he always wore, although he was ashamed to still own the thing. Then he looked at the brass tag that was pinned to it. It read Oliver I. Bondarev . That was his name although, he felt like that was an entirely different person.

Around the same time as he got this thought, he started to feel a few cold shivers run up his spine along with a fearsomly intense headache. This always came with his withdrawal, and they would always happen at random. Oliver absolutely hated when it happened while he was out on the streets. Though it was excruciating, he crossed his arms and gripped at the dark blue fabric of his uniform as he forced a smile to remain in his expression.

Although, as he was battling the symptoms of withdrawal, he couldn't help but look around at the people on the streets. Men and women alike, all on their joy like good citizens, strolled down the rainbow-lined streets with a gleeful smile about them like life is just a piece of cake. As he looked at them, he couldn't help but wonder something. Why was it so easy for them to just keep living like that but for him, but he just couldn't do it? He knew about his motives, but he didn't quite know about theirs. Although, he didn't really need to know what they were to know that he didn't want to follow the influence of Joy anymore.

As he was watching all the Wellies go about their day, Oliver couldn't help but notice the sound of chatter in the background. The more he listened, the more a genuine smile started to creep into his expression. It was just two women talking about the Constables in the area. Hearing what they had to say about them, especially since he knew every single one of them, genuinely made him want to chuckle. Now that's a starter. Although, when he heard his name mentioned in their conversation, the genuineness in his smile immediately left his expression. He listened to their conversation more carefully.

"What about Constable Bondarev?" Piped up one of the women, her voice was mellow and quiet, but passionate sounding.

"Oh, the Rusky? What about him?" The other one replied, her voice the complete opposite of the other's, but still just as passionate.

"Well,what do you think of him?"

"He's a strange one. Quite mysterious indeed...I can't quite figure him out. He's like the others, but at the same time, there's something different about him,"-she paused, noticing the other woman's look-"oh, don't take that the wrong way, he's different in an interesting way, not just because he's Russian. He's not bad looking, either. Nice sharp features, a little short for my tastes though. Very curly hair. His most striking feature is his eyes . They're so blue that it almost pierces you...but, they're a nice icy blue. That being said, he's elegant in a way. Although at the same time, he's quite menacing when provoked. I guess he doesn't have the nickname 'Venom' for no reason…"

"That's true...although he's quite friendly to most. Except, I've noticed that he's become a little more quiet and squirrelly over the past couple weeks. He still has that venomous flare, I don't think that's going anywhere, but he's more quiet. It's probably just a higher dose of Joy, but, I wonder what else it could be.."

The other woman made a dramatic gasp and a little giggle. "You don't suppose that he's a Downer …?" Immediately after she said that, she busted into an unstoppable fit of giggling.

"Now you're just begging for me to come over there and kick your a-"

At that point, Oliver's paranoia shot through the roof. He knew that she said that as a joke, but he couldn't help feel his heart skip a beat at it. Obviously, he knew that he was overreacting, but he couldn't help it, he was scared out of his mind of being caught. The paranoia of being caught mixed with his splitting withdrawal headache put him in anxiety hell. What if someone caught him? What if someone noticed that he was shivering beyond control? What if he started crying and he didn't even notice it?

Apparently, Oliver was so stuck in his own loop of anxiety-riddled thoughts that he didn't even notice someone firmly calling his name. He only snapped slightly out of his anxiety when he felt something rest on his shoulder. Immediately, Oliver jerked and looked around to see who touched him. His paranoia and anxiety didn't really calm down a whole lot when he saw who it was, however. It was just another constable...constable Wren? Wren didn't really stand out a whole lot against the other bobbies, his most distinctive feature was his auburn colored hair.

"All right?" Wren asked Oliver, a note of suspicion in his voice. Those notes of suspicion in other's voices always makes Oliver's heart skip a beat no matter how subtle it was.

"Of course..I'm sure it'll clear up soon, I imagine." Oliver put on his best fake smile as he managed to push that out of his anxiety. Although, he must have been trembling a bit from the withdrawal, as the skepticism in Wren's eyes never left.

"Are you off your Joy?"

Oliver's stomach dropped. "What? Of course not! As snug as a bug on a drug ."

The skepticism in Wren's eyes never left, but he ultimately took his hand off Oliver's shoulder. "Alright...at least try to keep an eye out for the Downer bastard who smoked this poor sap." Wren gestured down to the ground and crouched back down.

Oliver was struck with momentary confusion at that, but it was immediately cleared when he looked behind himself. Apparently his withdrawal-fueled hysteria was enough to make him forget why he was even standing around at this particular spot in the first place. There was a dead Wellie, sprawled out and face down, in a puddle of her own blood. She was probably knocked over the head with something. Although like most situations of this sort, the "murderous wastrel" usually comes back to the scene of the crime.

Although, as he tried to focus on keeping an eye out for the perpetrator, a random memory that was buried leaped out at him from out of the blue. Usually, he disliked when that happened because it usually caused him some disorientation. Since usually they were about his childhood during the war, the trains to Germany, Charlotte's demise, and...Wolfgang. The thought of Wolfgang always left a bitter taste in Oliver's mouth.

Although, this time the memory was something that kind of brightened up his forced-happiness expression. The place where him and Charlotte used to live was just around the next block or two, maybe he could check it out when he was off-duty. Not even a second later however, that happy memory came crashing down into depressing territory as that was also the same place where he turned in Charlotte. The smile immediately ran from his face as he brought up a gloved hand to cover his mouth.

The sounds of a young woman shrieking his name over and over again filled his memory, her long blonde hair flailing about in the air as she struggled and thrashed in her brother's grasp. An empty pill bottle rolled across the floor at a mundane speed.

Oliver realized that he was clamping his eyes shut and immediately snapped them open.

His heart felt like it stopped when he thought he saw Charlotte standing in front of him, her white sweater tattered and worn. He vaguely remembered when that sweater was way too big for her, when it surpassed her hands. She looked at him with those same piercing blue eyes and her wide, mischievous smile. Almost like that same smile she wore when she was going to go pull another prank on Lee. Although, she was gone in an instant when he blinked.

Oliver drew his hand away from his mouth and looked around for at least a fragment of her left in his vision. But nothing came. He did what he usually did when he got flashbacks like this, he desperately started envisioning what Charlotte looked and acted like so that he would never forget her again. He did the same thing with Lee, but he usually had a harder time with envisioning him. He hated himself for this, since he knew it was because of his Joy abuse. Because of that he could barely even remember what his own brother looked like, as he wasn't with Oliver and Charlotte for that long. He got taken away to Germany when he was seven years old. All that came to mind when he thought about Lee was his misty eyes, his light brown hair, and the sound of a train whistle and him calling out Oliver and Charlotte's names as he was dragged aboard the train.

Oliver fought the urge to immediately cover his ears when he heard the train whistle, it pierced his memory and rattled around in his skull so badly that it blocked out anything else. Apparently, from what he could remember, Charlotte and Oliver couldn't board the train because the Bobby who was there got their birthdays wrong. Why hadn't Oliver or Charlotte just said that the dates were right and got on the train with Lee? Why did they have to be so honest in that situation? Why did they leave their little brother alone? Oliver tried and tried again to remember why they had told the truth, but he just couldn't manage to conjure that out of his Joy-abused memory.

Eventually, the noises of the train and Lee's hysteric cries faded into the background. The grayness which surrounded him faded a little bit, but not much, it was always there ever since he weaned himself off Joy. Although after that episode, he couldn't get over the feeling of the grin that was stretched across his face. He wanted to rip the smile off his own face, but he couldn't, since the mask he was wearing forced his expression into a smile. The belief was that when the mask forces you to smile, you couldn't help but be happy. Except, Oliver felt anything but happiness at the moment.

Although, he suddenly came back to reality when he heard a sudden yell from Constable Wren, who he almost forgot was even there. He immediately turned around from where he was standing and locked eyes with a Downer who was digging around in the dead woman's jacket. Oliver despised this part of being a Constable, as he knew he would probably have to take matters into his own hands.

As soon as Oliver even made eye contact with him, the Downer didn't waste any time and immediately bolted off in the direction he came from, dropping everything that he picked from the Wellie's jacket. Oliver's stomach churned as he immediately dashed after the Downer, knowing it wouldn't take long to catch up to him. It only took about a half a block to be right on the Downer's tail, when he got close enough he drew his baton from his holster and struck the fleeing Downer right on the side of the head. The contact made a sickening "crack" as the Downer immediately stumbled down onto the hard stone sidewalk out of disorientation, coughing up blood as he did so.

Oliver had his baton raised up to make the ending strike, but unlike the rest where he just did it quickly to get it over with, he did something deadly that would surely cause his capture. He froze, just as he did exactly two weeks ago. While the Downer was clearly an adult, something about him made him remember Lee. Maybe it was his hair, or his eyes, Oliver didn't exactly know what it was. Due to this remembrance, he couldn't let himself give the ending strike.

The Downer's incoherent begging made the shriek of the train whistle and Lee's screams echo in Oliver's head, the horrid sound of the train's gears scraping across the iron tracks gave him a splitting headache.

After a bit, the Downer's incoherent begging quieted down to nothing. He looked up at Oliver with confusion in his terrified eyes, obviously wondering why he wasn't dead yet. Oliver's shaking grip on his baton tightened as he decided to just get it over with. He met the Downer's eyes with a look that basically said "I'm so sorry". He turned his head to the side and clenched his eyes shut, not wanting to look at what he was about to do, and he finally brought the baton down on him.

All he heard was a dull "thud" that meant he made contact with the downer. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked at what he did with horror. He looked down at his hands and almost burst into tears, but luckily he suppressed them well. But what he didn't suppress was his mortified stare and his uncontrollable shaking.

There was blood all over his gloves and cuffs, with some on his chest. He knew that he should avert his eyes from what he did to the Downer, but he just kept staring at it in horror. It was almost as if the Downer was staring back at him, his glassy, lifeless eyes still held shock in them. Although, it kind of looked like he was staring past Oliver. Those looks from the dead always sent a chill up his spine.

He knew that this Downer was just like any of the others he'd turned in and killed or knocked unconscious, but somehow it felt immensely different. It felt almost as if he killed his brother, even though he hadn't seen him for a huge chunk of his life and even if he saw him at some point, they would be strangers to each other. But still, the fantasy felt so real that he couldn't bear the thought. The train's whistle faded away into nothingness along with Lee's scream, leaving Oliver in silence at what he did.

By then a crowd formed around the both of them, all of them smiling and thanking Oliver for the scene. Oliver didn't respond to any of that, of course. A few seconds later Wren raced over to him with a satisfied smile on his face, joining in on the thanks and even laughing about it. He leaned over and tapped the dead Downer on the cheek with his baton, turning his head to the side. "Cheer up, you bastard." He hissed sinisterly to the Downer.

Oliver felt a twinge of disgust at that comment, but he still didn't say anything due to being petrified by his earlier act. Soon, they all started to notice Oliver's odd behavior and went silent themselves, all looking at Oliver with expectancy. Wren looked at him with confusion in his eyes, but it soon turned into an "aha!" kind of expression when he noticed Oliver's disoriented gaze. "So you are off your Joy.."

Oliver finally looked up from his blood stained gloves and looked at Wren, terrified. Wren nodded solemnly and dug in his jacket pocket for a bit, finally pulling out an innocent-looking pink pill. "Here, have one of mine." He held the pill out to Oliver, giving him a small, but menacing, smile that basically told him: "Take it now."

Oliver looked at the pill, still shaking as he looked at it. He was repulsed with the idea of simply looking at that pill, although he didn't say it out loud. He just backed away from the pill, looking at it and Wren with disdain and horror. He knew he could die now, he saw the statistics, but he just simply couldn't take it.

Wren's expression darkened into one of surprise as he put the pill back into his pocket. He reached back and rested a hand on his baton. "Oh my god he's a Downer.."

Oliver's eyes widened in sheer terror, his heart thumped in his chest rapidly as he looked around at the now frowning Wellies that accompanied Wren. He backed up even farther as he saw them draw out weapons, most small, but some were quite intimidating.

"Someone get Doctor Sawyer now !" Wren barked at another one of the constables in the area, who were also joining in on the enclosing mob. Their eyes were full of surprise and repulsion at Oliver, their looks made his stomach churn.

Doctor Sawyer. That name rung over and over again in Oliver's mind. He knew that name, and once that name is uttered, it's usually not good. Doctor Sawyer was the head of the rehabilitation facility. Just the mere mention of his name made most Downers shit their pants. A warm liquid trailed down his legs. He knew now that it was flee or get caught in Sawyer's web. In an instant, he twisted around and ran off in the opposite direction, pushing himself as far as he could go, since if he slipped up just for a second all hope would be lost.

He barreled past Wellies and pushed them out of the way, getting several more on his tail and chucking miscellaneous items at him. The elderly women in the area screeched at him, but didn't run at him. He may have pushed one down due to his adrenaline at some point, but honestly he didn't really care. He didn't know exactly what direction he was going in, any direction that diverted from a path or made a complicated trail was good enough for him, but at that point it felt like he had the entire Constabulary tailing him.

Finally, he made enough zig zags and kitty corners that he managed to lose them a few kilometers away. Although, he could still hear their shouts and curses at him from afar. The place he ended up at was surprisingly empty, almost uneasily empty. Although, there was one Wellie just minding his own business on the bench next to the sidewalk, a gleeful smile on his face just like normal. Oliver couldn't waste any time with this as he heard his pursuer's shouts growing closer. His heart thumped rapidly as he tried to find something to hide in, but then it hit him. There was a manhole right in the center of the street. If he could get into the sewers without anyone noticing, then he would be safe from them and he could wait until it was safe enough to come out. The real question was, what would he do after that? He decided he would burn that bridge when he got to it. The main problem for now was, there was that Wellie sitting on the bench that would witness him climb into the manhole.

A cold sweat broke out on his forehead as he was steadily running out of time, the voices from the other Constables were growing closer on him and nearing this same block. He looked over at the other Wellie and they both made eye contact. The Wellie smiled and waved at him but Oliver didn't do the same, which drew a frown from the other Wellie. It's either do or die. He ran up to the Wellie and wrapped his arms around his neck, squeezing it tightly so that the Wellie would suffocate. The Wellie clawed and scratched at Oliver's wrists as his last breath escaped him.

"It's not you...it's definitely me." Oliver whispered to him as he brought him down, lying his victim on the ground as he walked towards the manhole. He crouched down towards the cover and pried at it, almost ripping the cover off as he dropped it to the side with a dull "thud". He looked up and saw the front of the mob rounding the corner he was in. Adrenaline kicked up to the max as he threw himself down the manhole, narrowly escaping their grasp by minutes. He re-positioned the cover above the manhole right when he heard a horde of footsteps and the sounds of an incessant whistle blowing down the street.

He wasted no time and darted down the damp tunnels of the sewers, his footsteps echoing in the darkness as he sprinted in a random direction. Anywhere away from the manhole opening was a good enough direction for him. Since it was nearly pitch black in the tunnels, he kept to the right of the tunnel to avoid falling in the river of sewage that flowed in the middle of the cavern.

After awhile of running in a random direction, he finally felt that he got far enough away from the manhole and slowed his pace to a stop. The silence in the tunnels was uncomfortable to say the least, since now he was left with the thought of being officially labeled as a Downer. He had failed at flying under the radar and he was now on the run. It felt extremely uncomfortable to let that sink in. He couldn't just climb out of the manhole anytime soon, since the only clothes he had on him now was that blood stained uniform. He'd just get chased down again. There's always the option of trying to escape Wellington Wells itself, but that was way too risky. Another option would also be to get chased out and run around and starve in the Garden Districts, but he didn't particularly like that idea.

He would never be able to get back in unless he waited for them to eventually forget about his existence. But if he did that, where would he go in that time?  
Oliver didn't even have time to even try to answer that question, since he heard rapid footsteps from behind him and the sound of a whistle blowing. Oliver immediately turned his head back and saw the familiar blue tinted flashlight. The light danced off of the bleak sewage tunnel with haste, signaling that the constables were on their way.

'No!' He yelled internally, knowing now that he didn't make it into the hole in time for them to lose him. But, he didn't have time to yell at himself for being an idiot or stare and gawk at the light, so he made a mad dash for escapism, his footsteps echoing rapidly on the tunnel floor as he bolted in a random direction. Deep down, he knew it was futile to run, since he was sure to get caught. He was outnumbered badly and not quick enough to escape them. Eventually, he hit a dead end at a bolted door, probably for maintenance. Oliver cursed loudly and banged on the door, knowing that it was useless to even do so. He pulled at the wheel in the center and tried to turn it in desperate hopes to open it, but it was, of course, jammed.

With little options and the shouts of his prior colleagues growing nearer, he grabbed a hold of one of the pipes next to the door and ripped it out of the wall, his grasp on the pipe shaking wildly with adrenaline and desperation as the constables finally reached him.

Letting his venom take over, as always, he swung the lead pipe at one of them, which collided sharply with his baton, which made Oliver stumble back a little bit. The other constables shouted at him to put it down as they swarmed over him, harshly knocking Oliver to the ground.

"I'll fix you!" One of the constables barked at him as he felt a dull pain in the side of his face, causing blood to trickle from his nose. The last thing he saw when he looked up was the sight of a baton on a collision-course towards his face before he was surrounded by a cold, numb darkness.

Constable Wren looked down at the unconscious Downer, his muted green eyes filled with disgust, but satisfaction, at the sprawled out sight. Who would have thought that one of his own would become a Downer. The thought made him sick to his stomach. Constable Bondarev was one of the last choices he would have picked to be suspicious of being a Downer. He was so passionate of his job and truly believed he was doing the right thing, which he obviously was. He always did his job with a smile!

Although, the more he thought about it, the more his erratic and suspicious behavior started to make sense. When he was acting up prior to his melt down, Wren was right that he was off his Joy. How long had he been off it? Days? Months? No one would know. And frankly, Wren didn't really care. As long as this filth was out of the police force, it didn't matter.

He was about ready to help the rest of his squad haul Constable Bondarev out of the sewers, when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A pipe was broken on the wall next to the maintenance door, looking as if it was ripped straight out of the wall. Although that wasn't the main problem. The main problem was that moteline was leaking out of it. The thick, purple liquid puddled onto the floor, dangerously close to Bondarev's unconscious body. However, Wren cared more about the rest of his squad than that piece of filth.

"God dammit.." He cursed to himself, knowing they wouldn't have that much time until they were infected by the toxin. To avoid breathing it in, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He pressed the cloth to his face and shouted hastily to the other Constables, who were right in the middle of removing Penn's uniform. "Drop him! Moteline's leaking from the pipes!"

"But Doctor Sawyer said specifically-" One of them piped up, his grip still firm on Bondarev's shoulders. Although, Wren swiftly cut him off.

"Doctor Sawyer's going to have to suck it up. We're going to get sick if we stay any longer! Just...drop him in the sewage and let him die. He's a Downer anyways."

The other Constable's looked at each other, conflicted, but it didn't take them long to nod in agreement and haul Bondarev over to where the sewage river laid in the middle of the tunnel. They hung him over the edge and let him sink into the sewage. Wren watched as Bondarev floated down the sewage river, probably to suffocate in the sludge before he even came into consciousness. "Downer bastard." He spat at Bondarev as he lead the rest of his squad back down the dark, mossy tunnel. They'd have to break it to Doctor Sawyer that Bondarev had not been captured.


	3. The Station

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver lied face down, listening to the silence. He was alone, uncomfortably alone. No one was watching him for the first time in awhile. He wasn't completely sure that he was actually there himself. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"A few moments later it came to him that he must exist in some way, more than just a disembodied thought, because he could feel himself lying on some sort of surface. So, he had a sense of touch, and so whatever he was lying on also existed as well. Almost as soon as he reached this conclusion, he realized that he was completely naked. Although he was in total solitude, he didn't really care that much about it. Oliver wondered, since he could feel, if he could see as well. Upon opening them, he discovered that he also had eyes. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He laid in a bright mist, though it wasn't anything like the toxic fog in St. George or any mist he'd experienced from his childhood. His surroundings weren't obscured by the mist, it actually seemed like it emphasized them. The floor on which he laid seemed a pure, bright white. Although it wasn't cold or warm at all, it was just...there. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He sat up. Upon looking around his surroundings, he realized that wherever he was had some sort of shape to it. Its overarching ceilings and almost infinite amount of benches seemed eerily familiar. Too familiar. Then, when he put more thought into it, remembrance hit him. This place looked almost exactly like a train station./spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"br /span/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Almost as soon as he realized that, he heard the painstakingly familiar sound of a train whistling and rusted steel wheels screeching against railroad tracks from behind him. Although, this time, it didn't give him that same splitting headache that it always did. All it did was shoot an arrow of terror through his heart. He turned around to see where the train whistle was coming from and he saw that there was a train scooting across the tracks at a slow pace, its huffing and puffing getting steadily louder as the train increased its speed. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Although, that's not the part that frightened him. The part that really got to him was seeing Lee getting dragged by the Jerries onto the train. Except, Lee's face was blurred except for the occasional glance at his wide, misty eyes. Oliver's main instinct to that sight was to immediately rip him from the Germans' grasp, but he found that he couldn't do that at all. In fact, he couldn't seem to move at all. He could only watch in longing horror as his little brother was dragged aboard the train to Germany. Although, Lee wasn't the only victim of the train. The train's windows were cracked open, hundreds of little hands slipped through the cracks in the windows, trying to grasp for hope that was already stolen from them. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Before Oliver could even realize it, he was letting out a desperate cry. No matter how much he tried to free himself from whatever had a hold of him, he simply couldn't. All he could do was watch it happen. Though it seemed like a lifetime of enduring this torture, the train finally departed with a final whistle, almost as if it was laughing at him. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver trembled with guilt, wishing so bad that he had just got on the train with Lee all those many years ago. But he didn't. And even now he couldn't remember why he and Charlotte told the Bobby the truth about the incorrect dates. Tears of hatred at himself flowed down his cheeks. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He whisked away from the tracks as soon as he was able to move, not wanting to look at it anymore. Although, as soon as he looked away, he noticed someone else sitting on one of the benches behind him. They had thick, pitch black hair, wolf-like features, a light brown sweater vest, and most familiar of all, sharp amber eyes. Oliver's heart skipped a beat. He didn't even need to pause to recognize this person, he already knew who it was. It was Wolfgang. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He immediately felt the need to apologize to Wolfgang, since the feeling of guilt multiplied when he saw him sitting on the bench. But, he found that all words escaped him in this situation. More tears fell down his cheeks. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Wolfgang looked up at Oliver, his amber eyes not changing when he saw him. They looked just as cold as they always were. "Hello, Oliver." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver's heart sank a little bit when he noticed there was no change in his eyes. In all his years of childhood spent with Wolfgang in the garden district, he could still never fully figure him out. The way Wolfgang thought was always a mystery to Oliver. That sometimes lead to immense frustration on his part. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""You really have gotten yourself into a difficult situation this time. You're a Downer now." Wolfgang said, no change in his voice at all. Just that same, sometimes insufferable, intelligent air to his voice. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver didn't respond, since he didn't know what to say at all. He just nodded solemnly. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"When Oliver didn't respond, Wolfgang just continued. "You know that you can't go back to Wellington Wells." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Then where else can I go? I can just wait it out and go back to St. George-" Oliver finally piped up, but was immediately cut off. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""And keep flying under the radar until you fail in front of an entire crowd again? You know that it's futile."/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"This time, Oliver stayed silent and turned his gaze away. He knew that Wolfgang was right. Then again, when wasn't he right? He swallowed the lump building up in his throat, his fear sinking to his stomach like a brick at the thought of escaping Wellington Wells. If even Wellies can't leave if they tried, then he couldn't even imagine how hard it was for Downers to escape, being as hunted as they are. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Ah, so you're afraid," Wolfgang broke the silence. "You have every right to be afraid. But, nothing good will come out of staying. There's a whole other world outside of Wellington Wells, and who knows, maybe you can get to Germany if you manage to break your way out of this cage." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver immediately turned his gaze to Wolfgang at the mention of Germany. Except, it wasn't Wolfgang anymore. Instead, it was a woman with long, curly blonde hair. Her eyes were an icy blue. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"The guilt that Oliver felt literally skyrocketed when he saw Charlotte sitting just a few feet away from him. He wanted to say so many things to her, that he was sorry, most of all. But it was all so overwhelming that he just stayed silent, tears of guilt and shame rolling down his cheeks at a steady rate. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"What was weirdest to Oliver, however, was that she didn't look disgusted with him at all. There was no trace of hatred in her eyes, only that same look of mischief and lightheartedness that she always had. She reached over and patted the space next to her on the bench. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver took the hint and reluctantly sat down next to her, trying to figure out how to say all those things he wanted to say to her at one time. But, he couldn't. Although, he remembered the one thing that she mentioned, something about Germany. "...Germany?"/spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"br /span/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Charlotte's smile brightened at that. "Yeah! Germany. You could always go there when you get out of here." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""But...why? That's the place that took all the children...that caused all this to happen..why would I ever want to go there?" /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Charlotte's expression darkened this time into one of uncharacteristic seriousness. "Have you ever considered that Lee could still be alive? Or have you locked that thought away in your deepest memory along with what we did to Germany?" /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver sat stunned with Charlotte's seriousness, unable to find the right words to retort. Yes, he had considered the idea that Lee was still alive, but he always pushed it away with the pessimistic thought that he was likely dead. And for Germany, he could barely even remember what they did to Germany. He remembered most things about the occupation, well, as much as his joy-abused memory could conjure, up until that point. He couldn't even remember one single thing about it, it was just a blur of weird pain and misery. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"When Oliver didn't respond for awhile, Charlotte continued on with her point. "Lee was taken on the trains when he was seven...he was little. Now, he could be a teenager," She came a bit closer to Oliver. "Look, you can't keep locking yourself up in Wellington Wells. I know that you're scared to leave, but it's the only way that you'll be able to have a second chance. If you stay here, you'll never be happy. In fact, you'll probably be dead. It's going to be hard, I know, but something being hard doesn't mean that it's impossible." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver felt a pressure rise in his chest at her words. He knew that she was absolutely right and he couldn't deny it. Lee could very well be alive and his only chance at life was to escape Wellington Wells. But, could he do it? His self doubt rose along with his determination. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He felt his eyes widen in desperation when he saw her start to fade away. It almost looked like she was unraveling, simply just blowing away like sand in the nonexistent wind. He immediately tried to grab a hold of her, but if felt as if he was just sifting through sand or a projection of light. "N-No, wait! Don't leave yet!"/spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"br /span/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Charlotte just kept smiling softly at him as she faded. "You have to find Lee. Do it for him. For me, for Wolfgang.." Though it was faint, as she was still just barely there, she flashed a wink and something that kind of looked like a thumbs-up. "Good luck."/spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"br /span/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"And just like that, she was gone. Oliver didn't even get any time to recollect, as the train station started to fade as soon as Charlotte left him. The neither-cold-nor-warm floor started to turn into thick, brown sludge that swallowed up almost everything that came into contact with it. Including Oliver. He let out a harsh gasp as he was harshly dragged into the sludge along with everything else. The small, last glance he caught of the pure white train station sank and dissolved into the darkness that was already consuming his mind. /span/p 


	4. The Tragedy of Thomas Sterling

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"In almost an instant, thick, brown sludge surrounded him from all sides, gaining a stranglehold on him as he flailed around pathetically. He gasped and sobbed for air as the current of slime swept him. The dream of the train station was still so clear in Oliver's mind, so clear that it terrified him. He could have sworn that he saw the pure white station just a few seconds ago, but all he saw was a sickly brown in his vision. Though he tried to calm himself down and stop hyperventilating, the sludge was so thick that it was nearly choking him. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He caught a glimpse of the ledge to the side, trying to grab onto it, though his grip kept slipping due to his irrational shock. When his lungs started to ignite out of deprivation of air, he realized how ridiculous he was being by floundering around in the sewage and rested an steel-tight grip on the ledge. Now much calmer than he was a few seconds ago, he hoisted himself up out of the water and onto the grimy stone floor. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He coughed and wheezed relentlessly and collapsed onto the floor. When his coughing fit was finally over and his breathing returned to a somewhat normal rate, he rolled off his side and sat up. He gagged a bit when he caught sight of his filthy, grime and blood stained uniform. /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""God...I hope I didn't get salmonella," /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"he thought to himself./span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver looked down at his gloves as well. They were completely soaked with sludge and grime. "Well...I guess these won't do me much good anymore." he muttered to himself as he slipped them off. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"As more and more of the events from earlier came back to him, he started to realize that he wasn't in St. George's sewers anymore. His heart thumped nervously in his chest as he looked around the tunnel. He had a pretty good grasp on St. George's sewage systems, and none of that looked like the cavern he was in now. The more he thought about it, the more anger exploded within him when everything clicked. Those bastards chucked him in the sludge! /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""How terribly thoughtful of them. I hope Doctor Sawyer's roasting their sorry asses.." he fumed to himself. Then again, he guessed that it was for the better. If they had brought him to the surface, he would probably be wishing he was chucked in the sewage instead. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Still fuming slightly, he stood up fully to explore the grimy underground. There wasn't very much to see in the dank cavern, not even a hint of where the current had swept him. Though, he assumed that he'd been hitching a ride with the current for awhile. This part of the underground looked even more decrepit than under St. George. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Christ...how far did the current sweep me? I'm pretty sure that I'm not even in St. George anymore. I'm definitely not in the Parade." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Though, the more time he spent in this sewer made him all the more agitated. What was he doing just standing here? He's not going to escape by standing around in a damp, disease filled sewer. He clenched his fists and cursed under his breath, starting down the tunnel to find some sort of way out. The moteline pipes along the tunnel cast a sort of purplish light against the drab walls of the tunnel, making it slightly easier to see. At least there was that. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"There was a sort of uncomfortable silence hanging in the air, though it was broken by the sound of the heels of his boots clacking against the stone floor. That and his thoughts. Now that there was no high-adrenaline chase to disturb him from his thoughts, they were allowed to fully sink in. He was on his own in the wild from now on. His goals have now morphed into something he never thought that they would become. Escape was his only chance. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Even now as he walked, the vividness of his dream of the pure white train station never left. It was almost as if he could still feel his sister's presence even though he was conscious. Though he knew it wasn't really her or Wolfgang, that would be absurd, the encouragement and determination brought forth by the dream struck him. Lee /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"was/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"out there. He /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"had/span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" to be. But there was one thing that still tugged at even the deepest crevices of his mind. Where would he even begin? The path he was on from his times of flying under the radar had been wiped completely clean and now he was left in only unsure fog./span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I'll burn that bridge when I get to it," he said, the sound of his voice echoing in the chamber startling him a bit. "I still need to get the hell out of this sewer." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver kept walking until he found a doorway, probably for maintenance. He decided to test his luck and tried to open it. Surprisingly, the metal door creaked open. Walking in, he found that the room was deserted and filthy, like it hadn't had people in it for months. There was a door at the end of the room, marked with lettering that said "Barrow Holm moteline distribution". /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""That'll be my ticket out of here," /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"he thought. /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Damn, where is Barrow Holm again? It's not in the village or the parade, that's for sure." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He went up to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Getting a little frustrated at this point, he searched around the room opening drawers, filing cabinets, etc. until he found a few metal bits lying on top of a table next to a set of bunk beds. He bent the tip of one of the metal bits and twisted it into a point. Then, he went over to the door and inserted it into the lock, jiggling it a little until the lock clicked in agreement. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""There we go," he said. "A whole childhood with the Defenders finally paid off."/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver was just about to open the door when he caught sight of a few papers lying on a few boxes next to the door. Thinking that it couldn't really hurt to take a peak, he grabbed the papers and began reading them. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"27 April 1963/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"To: Rupert Falon, Barrow Holm distribution /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"From: Axel Marsh, Chief engineer /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Dear Rupert, /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Are you sure that Tom is off his joy? Maybe he forgot. You've got to look after your mates, man. Have you tried tying a string around his finger? That always helps me out a bunch. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Anyways, I can't reassign Tom because I haven't got a replacement. All the other juniors are off at Scargill. The subsidence has been severing all sorts of connections, and the Moteliene must flow. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I really appreciate you sticking by your post. If we don't do our duty, who are we? /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"But, seriously, try the string around the finger. I feel certain you will manage the situation. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"All the best, /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Axel/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver set the letter back down on the box and began reading the other. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"29 April 1963/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"To: Axel Marsh, Chief Engineer /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"From: Rupert Falon, Barrow Holm Distribution /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He's not "off his joy" he's completely lost the plot. And he's hoarding all the carrots! He keeps growling at me whenever I try to eat mine. I'll try to talk some sense into him, but then I'm going straight back to the village. Duty be damned. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /br /br /R./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Since that was the last letter, Oliver sat the memo on the box with the other one. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Well, I hope that was solved," he said. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He then opened the door and was greeted with a shocking sight. In front of one of the pipes used to pump the moteline, a corpse laid sprawled out on the floor with an electro-lock-shocker next to it. First, Oliver felt sorry for the corpse, but then he drifted to the usefulness of the lock shocker and searching the corpse's body for anything useful. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He swiped the lock shocker and began frisking the poor man's body, feeling awful about it the entire time, but then he caught sight of his name tag. "Rupert Falon". /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""And solved it was…" Oliver grimaced. "I wonder where Tom went then." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Rupert's body was free of anything useful, so Oliver decided to go on his merry way. That's when it hit him again, the train whistle in the back of his head. He groaned and fisted his hand into his tangled and somewhat damp hair. His surroundings started to fade to black as a memory seeped its way into his mind once more. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver and Lee sat together on the sofa, listening to the radio and the latest news on the war. Charlotte was upstairs doing God knows what, probably scheming something for the Defenders to do. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Lee then turned to Oliver, but his misty eyes were looking more to the right of him. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Ollie, a-are they going to hurt us?" He asked. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""No one's going to hurt you, Lee, I promise." Oliver said, a little hesitant. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""But…" Lee paused, trying to think of the right words. "B-But they hurt the city…"/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""I don't think they'll blow anything else up." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Wh-Why?" /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver shrugged. "Because we surrendered or something." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""What are we going to do, Ollie?" Lee looked visibly upset at this point. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver reassuringly put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it back and forth gently. "We're brothers! I'll look out for.../span /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"we'll/span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"look out for each other." /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver let go of his hair after his surroundings returned to him. His stomach threatened to lose his lunch at any moment, but he fought it with firmness. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Damn, these flashes never get any easier.."/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" He walked around the maintenance room, looking for anything that could be useful. It didn't take him long before he stumbled across a book lying on a set of bunk beds in the corner of the room. The wall was covered in scribbles from some sort of chalk and pages from the book were strewn all over the floor. When he read the inside cover of the book, it started to make more sense. It read, "The Diary of /spanspan style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Thomas Sterling/span span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"". /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He wondered whether it was morally correct to read someone else's diary, even if it was one of an apparent murderer, but he just couldn't resist. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"April 20 /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I looked into the light like the Doctors told me and I could've sworn that I saw shapes moving in there, like shadows but made of light./span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"And there's shadows all around, they're always around the corner. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He keeps turning lights off, says he wants to save the bulbs. Trying to make me think I'm going blind, isn't he? How he just loves to feel superior! /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"April 21/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Took TWO joy just so I could stand his ugly ass face. Why won't it work? Did he swap them out for something? Paracetamol? Jelly beans? /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Jesus, we haven't had jelly beans since. . . have we ever had jelly beans? /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"April 22/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I hate when he talks in that slow, condescending voice. Like I'm a child. I'm not a child, am I? I don't know any children. Obviously. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Jesus, what is wrong with my joy? /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"April 24/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"There he is, scritching away in the corner. Type, type, type eh Mr. Falon? /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"And then the whoosh of the pneumatic tube! He's blaming it all on me, isn't he? He says it's his Missus. I bet he doesn't even have a missus, with those big mossy teeth. I bet she went out for milk and never came back. Wait. . . we don't have milk anymore. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Was I married once? How did it end? I get this horrible pit in my stomach. I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy remembering. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Something is fucked up about the Joy ! And he won't send me home. We've got to stay here, duty ! /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"April 25 /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I can hear him crunching in the dark.. It ISN'T rats! It's his big mossy teeth. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I lie awake picturing myself squeezing his neck until his chubby face turns into the color of those carrots he bloody well stole from me. He's plotting something. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"April 26/span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Let him try to weasel out of this one, I saw him writing those LIES! Reassign me, will he? Off my Joy, am I? I'm bloody well tripling up and he KNOWS IT! /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"April 30 /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"strongWE'VE COME TO THE END OUR OUR TIME WE'VE COME TO THE END OF OUR TIME WE'VE COME TO THE END OF OUR TIME/strong/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"br /br /br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""God…" Oliver swallowed hard and gently set the diary back where he found it. He then turned around and went over to the room opposite the beds. It looked like there was some kind of machinery in there, maybe a control room. Noticing there was a keycard swiper, he brought out the electro-lock-shocker from earlier and attempted to hack the panel. He had forgotten just how violent the shockers were as it pretty much obliterated the panel. Oliver let out a little gasp at the burning warmth that emitted from the device, then dropped it as it was pretty much worthless after one go. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He was about to open the door, but a sinking feeling overcame him for some reason and he paused. Ultimately, he shook it off and opened the door. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Just then a horrifying shriek erupted from behind the door and out came a man dressed in a boiler suit, he was covered in dried blood. It clicked with Oliver who the man was. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"However, Tom violently shoved him into the machinery behind Oliver before he could even have any time to react, stunning Oliver momentarily. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver felt a dull pain in his jaw as the wastrel socked him in the face. He put his hands out in front of him as a warning, backing away from Tom. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Look, Tom, I don't want to hurt you," He said to no avail. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"It seemed the wastrel wasn't even listening to him, as he lunged for Oliver, practically clawing at him. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"The prior constable shut his eyes and delivered a harsh uppercut to Tom's jaw, sending him tumbling to the ground. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"While he was temporarily knocked out, Oliver took that time to sneak into the control room to open up the hatch. After a little bit of searching, he found a lever that he thought may open it and pulled it down. Sure enough, the ladder descended from the manhole. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Oliver climbed up the ladder and pushed open the manhole, tossing the cover to the side with a "clunk". He involuntarily shut his eyes from the light pouring in. Once he regained his vision, he climbed out of the sewer. He looked around at the overgrown and abandoned area he was in and wanted to rip out every follicle of hair on his head. /span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"His suspicions from earlier were confirmed. He was in the Garden District./span/p 


End file.
